Blockchain technology can increase overall efficiency of energy markets and thereby help to reduce waste and pollution. The main potential lies in decentralizing the markets and in incentivizing market participants to flatten peaks of energy demand and supply. A blockchain-based smart grid in combination with real-time auctions and smart meters are key to this ambitious endeavor. Read more about our ideas in our award winning article.

One of the most important fields of implementation for the blockchain industry are financial services in general and financial technology (FinTech) in particular. In this project we identify the most important use cases and how they will shape the future of finance.

Blockchain is able to provide security and transparency. In combination with the automation of smart contracts this allows for much more efficient processes within the sector of personnel leasing. This will lead to advantages of leased employees, companies and the regulator alike.

BLOCKCHAIN & ENERGY

BLOCKCHAIN FOR FINTECH

PERSONNEL LEASING

TRADING BEHAVIOR OF CRYPTO-INVESTORS

EFFICIENCY OF CRYPTOCURRENCY MARKETS

BLOCKCHAIN FOR WHOLESALE BANKING

SMART CONTRACTS

DEBT & EQUITY TOKEN

RETAIL AND CONSUMER GOODS

DECENTRALIZED INFORMATION

DECENTRALIZED BETTING & GAMBLING

CRYPTOCURRENCIES & CYBERCRIME

IOTA SUPPORT

Trading Behavior of Crypto-Investors

In this project we investigate the behavior of crypto-currency traders. The analysis is focused on an empirical analysis of actual trading behavior. We describe the concentration of the trading volume on a few heavy traders and also investigate whether traders in general adhere to consistent strategies or are prone to well-known fallacies and, for example, chase their losses.

BLOCKCHAIN & ENERGY

BLOCKCHAIN FOR FINTECH

PERSONNEL LEASING

TRADING BEHAVIOR OF CRYPTO-INVESTORS

EFFICIENCY OF CRYPTO-MARKETS

BLOCKCHAIN FOR WHOLESALE BANKING

SMART CONTRACTS

DEBT & EQUITY TOKEN

RETAIL AND CONSUMER GOODS

DECENTRALIZED INFORMATION

DECENTRALIZED BETTING & GAMBLING

CRYPTOCURRENCIES & CYBERCRIME

IOTA SUPPORT

Efficiency of Crypto-Markets

Cryptocurrencies and its pioneer Bitcoin are known to be uncorrelated to stock and bond markets. They are thus an interesting alternative asset for speculators and investors. At the same time, cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and their markets rather immature. The goal of the project is to test the efficiency of these markets and compare these to regular capital markets.

BLOCKCHAIN & ENERGY

BLOCKCHAIN FOR FINTECH

PERSONNEL LEASING

TRADING BEHAVIOR OF CRYPTO-INVESTORS

EFFICIENCY OF CRYPTO-MARKETS

BLOCKCHAIN FOR WHOLESALE BANKING

SMART CONTRACTS

DEBT & EQUITY TOKEN

RETAIL AND CONSUMER GOODS

DECENTRALIZED INFORMATION

DECENTRALIZED BETTING & GAMBLING

CRYPTOCURRENCIES & CYBERCRIME

IOTA SUPPORT

Blockchain for Wholesale Banking

The wholesale banking industry will be exposed to various structural changes due to the emergence of blockchain technologies. The early identification how business processes will be affected and the evaluation of the most favorable blockchain-approach do result in a considerable knowledge headstart

BLOCKCHAIN & ENERGY

BLOCKCHAIN FOR FINTECH

PERSONNEL LEASING

TRADING BEHAVIOR OF CRYPTO-INVESTORS

EFFICIENCY OF CRYPTO-MARKETS

BLOCKCHAIN FOR WHOLESALE BANKING

SMART CONTRACTS

DEBT & EQUITY TOKEN

RETAIL AND CONSUMER GOODS

DECENTRALIZED INFORMATION

DECENTRALIZED BETTING & GAMBLING

CRYPTOCURRENCIES & CYBERCRIME

IOTA SUPPORT

Smart Contracts

Smart contracts offer the potential of disintermediation and enable the automation of various processes. As blockchain provides the first secure application platform for smart contracts use cases and applications can be identified that potentially offer cost saving and new business models across industries.

The concept of tokenization enables the transfer of any form of asset via the blockchain. Debt and equity tokens enable a much cheaper way to access financing options and enable the implementation of secondary markets. We are investigating their variables of success as well as potential barriers to innovation like regulatory requirements.

BLOCKCHAIN & ENERGY

BLOCKCHAIN FOR FINTECH

PERSONNEL LEASING

TRADING BEHAVIOR OF CRYPTO-INVESTORS

EFFICIENCY OF CRYPTO-MARKETS

BLOCKCHAIN FOR WHOLESALE BANKING

SMART CONTRACTS

DEBT & EQUITY TOKEN

RETAIL AND CONSUMER GOODS

DECENTRALIZED INFORMATION

DECENTRALIZED BETTING & GAMBLING

CRYPTOCURRENCIES & CYBERCRIME

IOTA SUPPORT

Retail and Consumer Goods

We identify and analyze applications for Blockchain in the retail and consumer goods industry. Our goal is to assess their respective cost savings potential, the opportunity to enter new markets and generate additional revenues as well as to assess the complexity of their implementation in the fast moving consumer good industry.

Blockchain allows network participants to securely exchange information and therefore enables trust in a trustless environment. This enables to decentralize information without losing trust in its validity. One application of decentralized trusted information are notary services, which can be provided much more efficiently and thus for a much wider array of goods. Together with smart contracts, decentralized information can also disrupt know your customer (KYC) processes.

The main feature of the blockchain technology is its potential to replace intermediaries with protocols. This also applies to traditional centralized gambling operators, which can be disintermediated by decentralized betting and gambling. Today already more than a dozen of such gambling opportunities exist. They present a huge challenge for regulators, since there is no central counterparty that could be contacted to enforce regulation or taxation.

BLOCKCHAIN & ENERGY

BLOCKCHAIN FOR FINTECH

PERSONNEL LEASING

TRADING BEHAVIOR OF CRYPTO-INVESTORS

EFFICIENCY OF CRYPTO-MARKETS

BLOCKCHAIN FOR WHOLESALE BANKING

SMART CONTRACTS

DEBT & EQUITY TOKEN

RETAIL AND CONSUMER GOODS

DECENTRALIZED INFORMATION

DECENTRALIZED BETTING & GAMBLING

CRYPTOCURRENCIES & CYBERCRIME

IOTA SUPPORT

Cryptocurrencies and Cybercrime

Cryptocurrencies possess certain characteristics, like privacy and irreversibility, that can be exploited by criminals. The mainstream use of Bitcoin as a currency is hindered due to its use as a payment for illegal services. In addition, cryptocurrencies can potentially be used for money laundering or tax evasion. As regulatory uncertainty exists, we analyse the illegal uses of cryptocurrency and investigate counter-measures, especially from the standpoint of the regulator.

NEWS

Research director Ingo Fiedler is writing a series of three blog posts on IOTA, the cryptocurrency that uses a DAG-based tangle instead of a blockchain. Feel free to read his first post Properties of a Token-Based Machine Economy.

In cooperation with Deloitte Legal, the Blockchain Research Lab prepared a article on the state and issues of the current system of securities trading. In addition to that, the beneficial use of a blockchain-based trading system was highlighted. Feel free to read the article Das tönerne Fundament der Wertpapierabwicklung.

Blockchain Monitor aims to provide a market analysis of the blockchain ecosystem. As a collaborative effort of the Blockchain Research Lab and the blockchain startup Upchain we create a sentiment index across various industries and sectors.

We would appreciate it if you take the time to support our research. We will share the results with the you.

On the 8th and 9th of February, Fred Steinmetz and a team from consider it are attending the Legal Tech Hackathon in Berlin. Their goal is to design and develop blockchain solutions for the legal sector.

On Friday, 20 January 2017, a conference on the digitalization of the legal system took place at the LMU Munich. Dr. Fiedler attended the conference and gave a lecture on an economic perspective on blockchain and smart contracts. The recording of Dr. Fiedlers lecture is freely available.